Holder for shoe-tops.



No. 653,929.- P'afented luly I7, 1900'. c. c. HARLOW.

HOLDER FOR SHOE TOPS.

(Application filed Jan. 28, 1899. Renewed Nov. 2, 1899) (No Model.)

75mm v 2% UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CUSHING G. HARLOW, OF BROCKTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO CHARLESS. PIERCE, OF SAME PLACE.

HOLDERFOR SHOE-TOPS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 653,929, dated July 17, 1900.

Application filed January 28, 1899. Renewed November 2, 1899. Serial No.735,638. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, GUsHING C. HARLOW, of

Brockton,in the county of Plymouth and State.

of Massachusetts, have invented an Improved Holder for Shoe-Tops, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is an elevation showing the top of a shoe with my holder in place. Fig. 2 is a section on line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an elevation of my holder.

In the manufacture of shoes the tops are held in proper relation one to the other by strings which are passed through the eyelets in the tops before the tops have been lasted; and the object of my invention is to provide a substitute for the strings, which substitute can be readily and quickly put in place, can be readily and quickly detached, but which cannot be accidentally disengaged, and which, being made in suitable sizes, will always give the exact draft required for the shoes.

To this end my invention is a new article of wire bent at a to form a staple-shaped piece, with one of the legs a curved to conform to the shape of the last on which the shoe is to be made, while the other leg a is not onlycurved, but also bent at a until its end is in contact with leg a.

To put my holder in place, the end of leg a is passed through the eyelet A in top B, and the end of leg a is sprung away from leg to, and the holder is pushed across the line of eyelets until the end of leg (4 is over the eyelet A in top B,When the end of leg a springs into eyelet A. The tops B and B are thus held in proper relation to each other, and the spring of the wire of the holder prevents end of leg a from becoming disengaged from its eyelet. is readily disengaged by lifting the end of leg a out of the eyelet in top B and pushing the holder back across the shoe until the end of leg a is freed from the eyelet in top B.

It will be seen that when my holder is in place it will be difficult to distinguish which end is to be sprung out of its eyelet, and to obviate this difficulty I place a mark on leg a close to the place where it is bent. This mark may of course be an arrow or any other suitable mark; but for convenience I prefer to use a figure, which not only indicates the end which is to be first disengaged, but also the size of the holder, each shoe ordinarily requiring several different sizes of holders to give the proper draft.

What I claim as my invention is The holder for shoe-tops above described made up of a piece of wire bent near its middle to form a staple, with one leg curved to conform to the upper front portion of a last and forming the inner leg of the article, and the outer leg bent near its outer end toward the inner leg.

OUSHING O. HARLOW.

WVitnesses:

WM. MAYNADIER, HENRIETTA POWERS.

When the shoe is finished, the holder. 40 

